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Swine Flu Tip **Open Thread**

By Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy on April 30, 2009 at 11:25 PM in Current Affairs, Influenza Pandemic, Open Thread

(Bumped up from Thursday afternoon . This is an instant classic, Reverend Amy!)

A former parishioner sent this to me tonight. Now, I know this is a serious issue, and we must take care. But sometimes when things are the most frightening, a little humor goes a long way.

That being said, allow me to share this Swine Flu Tip with you.

DON’T DO THIS:

So, it’s an open thread. What’s going on in your world?

  • http://www.sonicninjakitty.wordpress.com Sonic Ninja Kitty

    OK, I won’t do that–ever!! LOL!

    • termo

      That is hilarious!!!

      The only thing that would make it funnier is if it were Joe Biden giving the lesson.

  • Linda Anselmi

    Okay. That picture just might explain why so many kids get sick at state or county fairs.

    The pig looks very happy.

    • CG

      that pig really does look happy. Toddlers do seem to use their tongues to touch and explore just about everything. Years ago I had a friend in Huntingdon Valley, PA who raised a single pig, and a single cow. Both had free range and could enter a part of the house, Both the pig and cow were very clean and socialized, and opened my eyes to humane treatment of farm animals.

      • http://noquarter foxyladi14

        maybe this explains why so many pigs get sick.

      • http://www.rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com/ Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy

        CG, that is so cool! I saw a story on the news abt a couple who lived in the frozen tundra (okay, so anything north of the Mason Dixon is the frozen tundra to me, but I mean like WI or MN). They had a HORSE who lived indoors during the winter. It loved spaghetti and all kinds of food. Apparently, it was quite good inside!

        Pigs are SO smart – well, not smart enough to escape the licking toddler, but you get my point!

        And y’all are cracking me up, too! :D

  • Portia Live-Free-or-Die Elizabeth

    That is such a cute pic!
    I suddenly flashed back to when Princess Diana toured an AIDS ward at a hospital. She took their hands, she hugged them. She showed in the best way possible that the disease isn’t spread through casual conact.

    That tiny girl is a good poster child for not being paranoid about pigs. I’m glad WHO is now refraining from calling it “swine flu” and is using H1N1 type A instead. In 2004 I worked in an infectious diseases lab with H1N1 virus. It is a rather fragile virus in the sense that it’s not that easy to culture and the strain we tested was fairly easy to kill in drug trials.

    That said, flu viruses are notorious for mutating, so I’m not saying it’s no problem. But as sloppy as some of my lab mates were, none ever came down with flu.

    • Anna

      Interesting. Why did you assume the picture showed a girl? I assumed it was a boy, and I don’t know why.

  • politicalidentitycrisis

    I suggest we don’t shake hands with swine either. Stay away from politicians

    • LesleeE

      Love it.

  • arran

    eeewwwwwww–I also get disgusted when owners allow their dogs to give them slobbery kisses.

    You don’t allow Lucy to do that, do you, Amy?

    • http://www.rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com/ Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy

      Not to worry – no, I do not! Not with any of my dogs (though our Border Collie mix, Sasha, is a lick stealer. She’ll walk past you, reach her tongue out of the side of her mouth, and steal a quick lick.)

      Not that I’m judging others who do, mind you! But no.

      Puppies are a different story, though! ;-)

    • Tom Cat “wodiej” Jefferson Esq

      Oh yea, I let mine. My Shih Tzu and Yorkie are kissin’ fools. I’d rather have my dogs lick my face than kiss alot of humans w the nasty things they do w their mouths.

      • JustMe~~

        LOL wodiej

      • http://rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy

        LOL, Tom Cat – one of our friends talks abt her love affair with her little dog, whom she les kiss her all over. She falls asleep on the floor with him all the time. Her boyfriend just shakes his head and goes up to bed…

    • Karma

      We were just adopted by a small dog who loves to steal face licks.

      But let’s just say I’ve seen where he licks my Rottweiler too.

      Anyway, that photo is too cute…..lol

  • samb

    So did the Mexican government know that the swine flu was in Mexico, before Obama was about to visit Mexico?

  • mountainaires

    That child will probably never get Swine Flu.

    ;-)

  • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

    On the serious side, it’s been interesting to read up on the 1918-1920 flu epidemic which began, like this one, as a relatively mild pandemic. But the virus MUTATED. I read this at various places. Here’s one:

    The fact the current ’swine flu’ has shown to be contagious is alarming. So far the virus has shown to have a 6% 6.3% mortality rate. It may not seem like much, but please consider the following: The deadly influenza panic in 1918 had a mortality rate of under 1%.

    This virus went on to kill tens of thousands of healthy people a day in large cities and up to 100 million people world wide.

    Viruses, like this strain of swine flu, kill their host by over-stimulating active immune systems that are robust and healthy. That is why the victims in Mexico were between the ages of 20 and 45.

    Some have said that no one in the United States have died from the virus, so we need not worry. Experts say it is only a matter of time. The virus is not prevalent enough to reach statistical significance in the United States, with only a handful of confirmed cases. 93.7% of all Mexicans with the virus recovered.

    More cause for worry: The 1918 virus started off ‘mild’ before it mutated into a raging storm. It also does not mean we will see millions of deaths. It is too early to draw sweeping conclusions. Nevertheless, there is potential for a disastrous pandemic. If 50% of Americans catch this flu in the next two years, and the mortality rate stays at 6.3%, we would witness 20+ million deaths. …

    – Striking parallels between the influenza of 1918 and new ’swine flu’ through a historical comparison

    • Tom Cat “wodiej” Jefferson Esq

      they need to close the friggin’ Mexico border and halt all travel to and from Mexico!! Are they really that STUPID??

    • Sammie

      http://www.k-state.edu/media/newsreleases/april09/swineflu43009.html

      “K-STATE RESEARCHER FINDS THAT THE 1918 SPANISH FLU VIRUS CAN INFECT SWINE AND RESULTED IN CURRENT LINEAGE OF H1N1 SWINE INFLUENZA VIRUSES

      MANHATTAN — In 1918 a human influenza virus known as the Spanish flu spread through the central United States while a swine respiratory disease occurred concurrently. A Kansas State University researcher has found that the virus causing the pandemic was able to infect and replicate in pigs, but did not kill them, unlike in other mammalian hosts like monkeys, mice and ferrets where the infection has been lethal.

      Juergen A. Richt, Regents Distinguished Professor of Diagnostic Medicine and Pathobiology at K-State’s College of Veterinary Medicine, studied the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic with colleagues from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

      Their research supports the hypothesis that the 1918 pandemic influenza virus and the virus causing the swine flu were the same. Richt said the virus was able to infect and replicate in swine and cause mild respiratory disease. The 1918 virus spread through the pig population, adapted to the swine and resulted in the current lineage of the H1N1 swine influenza viruses. The researchers’ study is published in the May 2009 Journal of Virology.”

      • FLDemFem

        In 1918, they didn’t have antibiotics or antivirals. The chances that the flu will mutate into a super-bug is increased by the universal use of these drugs in the US population. THAT is what scares the hell out of me.

    • Peggy Sue

      I think this is the key phrase to key in on right now, Susan:

      “It is too early to draw sweeping conclusions.”

      Of course, if the virus mutates into something more serious, we may have a problem. The spread rate has been compared to the 1918 outbreak. But we have to remember how interconnected we are at the moment. Far more, than in 1918. Most of the victims of the early outbreak died from secondary infections, pnuemonia being a primary cause of death. But remember, we did not have anti-virals or antibiotics in 1918. And believe me, I’m not trying to minimize penuemonia. I’ve had it. But obviously, I survived. As did my husband survive his bout. As did my critically-injured son where his condition was already compromised.

      Our health system is much better now than it was in 1918. And we’re basically healthier people with a longer life span. Few people are running around with TB, for instance.

      So, there’s reason to be cautious and alert. But IMHO, we should not be freaking out.

      • Tuppence411

        All good points Peggy. And as far as the anti-virals now available to all of us to treat a host of viral diseases, we can all give a sincere “Thank-you” to the gay community. Their early advocacy and demands for goverment research and drug development- as well as raising billions of dollars for AIDS research- gave us the tools we have today to fight viruses and understand them better.

      • FLDemFem

        Few people are running around with TB, for instance.

        Actually, TB is on the rise again, and it has mutated so that it is very difficult to treat. It is now considered a super-bug.

        • Peggy Sue

          I agree, FLDem. There has been a rise in antibiotic resistent TB. But I still think the rate of infection is far below where it was in the early 20th century. In the US, at least. In Third World countries, it’s another matter.

          My son spent a year+ in Africa in 2000-2001 and he ran a lot of transports [on his time off from teacing English]to a clinic north of his school. I remember exchanging emails where he was describing a particular woman he was transporting north, how she was coughing up blood. I was aghast and said, “that sounds like advanced TB.” He laughed and said, “Mom, everyone here has TB.”

          A different world, a different century. And in that situation, a serious flu could be absolutely disastrous.

  • kat in your hat

    Ok, fine, I promise not to do that. Can I still have pigs in a blanket at IHOP or what?

    • JustMe~~

      LOL kat….. only if the waitress/waiter has not kissed them..

    • Karma

      lol

  • pm317

    I don’t know about you. I think the pig is smiling and the kid is awfully cute. :)

  • benny

    shucks rev, just when I was gonna french-kiss my swine, read your article. My passions have cooled now. lol

    Hey, did you know that one of BHO’s security team is suspected of contracting this flu? not kidding now, its true.

    • http://www.rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com/ Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy

      Glad cooler heads prevailed, Benny!

      Interesting you bring up Obama’s security guard. Am I remembering correctly that Obama came in contact with someone in Mexico who had this flu? It seems likely that SOMEONE in that party might have come down with something…

      Kat in your hat, you CRACKED me up!

      Foxy lady, you are hilarious!

      And yes, the pig doesn’t seem to mind one bit, does it?? Cute!

  • Objective Analysis

    I am crying with laughter. Totally hillarious!

  • http://noquarter foxyladi14

    i kissed a pig once and he turned into a frog.

    • SFIndie

      I kissed the frog and he turned into a pig (after I married him)….. lesson is, if you’re going to kiss frogs and pigs, be sure not to marry them, too!

  • Tom Cat “wodiej” Jefferson Esq

    omg…LOL, I’ve seen that pic before, it’s nasty for the kid to stick their tongue out at the pig but it is funny.

  • Peggy Sue

    Oh Dear God! I hope this pic was taken long before the swine flu came to town. But how funny. And if I didn’t know better, I’d say that was a picture of my youngest son at the same age. But we never had pigs, one of the few critters we weren’t feeding at any particular time.

    Still laughing. Thanks for that, Amy! A riot.

  • Anna

    It’s heartbreaking when you think of the Egyptian slaughter of these intelligent animals this week — as if they would stop the flu that way. Humans are so cruel, and needlessly so.

  • andrew 191

    This love of pork indicates a future Democrat Politician. I doubt his middle name is Hussein thuogh.

    • I’m a Linda too

      It is so symbolic, the Pig is making us sick.

  • I’m a Linda too

    When Pigs Fly seems to be the census.

    Weary Barry’s support plummeting. While some are using push polling and asking if “you like him PERSONALLY”, all other polls just keep showing dropping ranges 56 to 51.

    NOW, his non stop campaigning is getting him ZIPPO!!!

    Weary Barrys viewers dropped to 28 million for his 100 day anniversary. lol

    YEP, down 29 percent from the last press conference and down 42 percent from his first televised press conference, just 2 1/2 months ago.

    Here’s the president’s last three primetime news events:

    Feb: 9: 49.5 million
    March 24: 40.4 million
    April 29: 28.8 million

    http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/04/obama-press-conference-draws-288-million-viewers.html

    And that was BEFRORE Bidens foot in mouth episode…the latest one.

    • Docelder

      Biden was a portend of Obama’s decision making abilities. Having made it a point to nominate him at 3 a.m. it is also a likely indicator of his 3 a.m. judgment. If not outright impetuous.

  • Docelder

    Well in the E.U. they are somewhat more optimistic about this flu than our own CDC has been.

    EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou has said a possible swine flu global epidemic, or pandemic, would not necessarily cause widespread deaths.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8027043.stm

  • bayareavoter

    HA HA. Love that pic!

  • Katmoon

    So cute. Babies just do not care, they are a walking moving exploration in progress.
    Something we need to remember about pigs is the dependency we have on them not just for food, but for porcine matched insulin for humans; of course we use bovine too. Our systems have some similarities, enough that porcine insulin can be adapted for human use, so maybe the virus jumps species because of similarities in certain microbiological structures. Perhaps the longer gestation of the virus for humans is because of how we regulate body temperature, etc. Just some thoughts. I’m not really knowledgeable about pigs, but I always thought the whole lying in the mud thing was to cool their body temperature, because they don’t sweat(?)

  • http://sarainitalyblog.blogspot.com sarainitaly

    and my sister in law is paranoid when her kids toys fall on the ground….

  • Ginger

    My sib sent me that yesterday. Isn’t that just hilarious?! It’s just so kid at that age to have to see what it tastes like.

  • yttik

    LOL, you would not believe how many times I have had to tell kids to please don’t kiss animals on the mouth! Please do not lick them, share sandwichs or ice cream cones with them.

  • http://360.yahoo.com/ommotherlifeforce fred heidrick

    if you can remember at the begining of obamas trip he was the one coughing and being sick maybe he gave it to the mexicans?

  • http://360.yahoo.com/ommotherlifeforce fred heidrick

    european trip

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